Cod Almighty | Diary

Isn't it tomorrow yet?

4 May 2021

Well this is weird. It is not that there is no news, it is just that none of it matters, and we are waiting on one transformative moment. One more sleep until Freedom from Fenty Day.

On Saturday, when it was all too late, Town finally got luck on our side and beat Port Vale. Southend also won though, so we'll have to pull off an impressive result at Cambridge to avoid finishing bottom of the Football League.

One thing which was conspicuous in its absence last week was a statement from the board. Which was a shame, as it would have helped us release some pent-up emotion to have a last bit of self-pitying, self-justifying doggerel to fire verbal darts at. We finally got it this morning: once again too little, too late. Apparently it would have been illegal to say sorry before now.

Middle-Aged Diary has noticed a trend in government communications over the last year. The media will highlight a very specific shortfall in policy, indicating exactly how it causes problems and the impact it has on people's lives. The department responsible, invited to respond, will say something airy like "We are spending what sounds like a large amount of money, because we are not going to give it any context, in this general area. The government is committed to ending every statement we make with the three words 'building back better'." It answers nothing. It explains nothing, but it makes every item end on a superficial feel-good note.

The board is trying to get the trick of it: "In response to allegations that the directors of Grimsby Town recruited a hopeless squad of players, woefully underprepared for a season of full-time professional football, doomed to finish bottom of the League, they say we had the 12th highest playing budget in division four." In their case, it comes with a side order of "A bigger boy with a flat cap and a West Country accent made us do it."

The statement is a fitting epitaph for Phil Day's time as chair. He has improved the grammar and the clarity with which club policies are communicated, but he has done less than nothing to improve the actual policies themselves. I've no doubt that Day is a genuine Town fan, and I feel for him, but when he found himself on the radio defending the convicted fraudster Alex May, that was the moment he should have resigned, for the sake of his dignity.

Change is coming, too late for this season, but better late than never. DN35 is tweeting that prospective new club owners Jason Stockwood and Andrew Pettit will be appearing on their next podcast, tomorrow. It sounds like the start of a conscious drive to engage with supporters. It is now up to all of us to make sure the change that happens is the change we want to see.